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Sleep Deprivation

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Psalm 37:7

Rest in the Lord

The tendency to be frustrated with how people can be against the Lord, ignore Him, and still prosper is common to us all. The Lord gives us wisdom at how to respond to this. We’ll lose faith and valuable focus if we spend time fretting over it. When we read further in this chapter we find more reasons to confidently trust the Lord with what we don’t understand.

Devotion

Canadians can’t take much consolation that the British and the Irish are the people who are most in need of sleep, according to a survey released last October. Because after these two, Canadians are the most sleep deprived people in the world. Canada is often at or near the top of good lists – clean air, honesty, economy, satisfaction, etc. It isn’t as positive that Canadians are the third most sleep-deprived people in the world, tied with the United States. The survey reported that 31% of Canadians said they were not getting enough sleep. In two similar polls, The Canadian Men’s Health Foundation found 33% of men aged 30-49 were only getting four to six hours of sleep a night, and the ParticipAction Report Card found a third of Canadian children are sleep deprived.

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How do you respond when you see others prosper and you just never seem to get ahead in this world? Often when that happens we get anxious and frustrated. We start losing sleep and weariness sets in. This can lead to depression and chronic crankiness. We don’t like ourselves when this happens, which leads to even more emotional and spiritual issues. King David noticed that evil people seemed to prosper in this world. It bothered him, but he had learned a good lesson that he shares with us in Psalm 37:7: “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.” As followers of Jesus Christ we must remember that He doesn’t miss a thing, and a day is coming when He will bring perfect justice to everything. While it is true that those who deny Him or reject Him and live their lives by the principles of this world seem to prosper, that prosperity only lasts for a time. In the sense of eternity those who live by the principles of the kingdom of God will enjoy the pleasures of God’s blessings, which far outweigh anything that this world has to offer. So instead of fretting over how well others seem to be doing, David counsels us to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. This is good advice.